Synopsis for
The Big Lebowski (1998)

The camera follows a tumbleweed up a hill while The Stranger narrates about a fella he wants to talk about, 'Dude' Lebowski. The story takes place in the early 1990s. The camera comes over the hill, following the tumbleweed across streets and overpasses of Los Angeles. The Stranger says that the Dude is probably the laziest person in Los Angeles County, placing him high in the running for laziest worldwide.

In a department store, Lebowski is wearing a housecoat and flips flops and buys a carton of cream with a check for 69 cents and a milk moustache. On the TV, George Bush Sr. is saying that aggression will not stand against Kuwait.

He returns to his home and closes the door. He turns on the light and is attacked by two men who force him into the bathroom and shove his head down the toilet. They say they want his money and that his wife Bunny says he's good for it. Dude convinces them that he couldn't possibly be married or have any money. They look around his house and decide they have made a mistake. The Asian thug urinates on the Dude's rug. They leave and call him an asshole. "At least I'm housebroken!", the Dude says.

Main credits show several people bowling and a man resembling Saddam Hussein spraying shoes. A man turns a split into a spare. We end up on Donnie bowling a strike with ease. He tells the Dude to mark it, but the Dude is busy talking to their bowling partner, Walter Sobchak. They are arguing about his rug and who is at fault. Donnie tries to get into the conversation but Walter tells him he's out of his element. Walter tells The Dude that the rich Lebowski that the men were after was the issue. The Dude decides to find him. They figure Lebowski's wife shouldn't go and owe money places, getting peoples rugs peed on.

The Dude goes to Lebowski's mansion. His assistant, Brandt, shows him some of Lebowski's awards and pictures. He shows him some urban achievers that Lebowski sponsors to go to college. Dude remarks that he went to college, but doesn't remember most of it, apart from smoking thai stick, breaking into the ROTC and bowling.

The Big Lebowski enters. He is greying and in a wheelchair. He wants to skip to the point since he knows all about the rug from Brandt. The Dude explains that the two guys were trying to piss on Lebowski's rug. Lebowski asks if he peed on Dude's rug. The Dude doesn't understand. Lebowski asks him if he speaks english and repeats his question. The Dude mentions Woo, the Asian thug. Lebowski accuses The Dude of looking for a handout, and asks if he is employed. The Dude chuckles at this. Lebowski asks him if he goes out looking for a job dressed in his housecoat on a weekday. The Dude doesn't know what day it is. Lebowski explains about the loss of his legs to some chinaman in korea, which didn't stop him from achieving. The Dude realizes he won't get anything from him. Lebowski tells him to get lost and gives him condolences on the hippies losing. The Dude tells Brandt that Lebowski told him to take any rug in the house.

Outside, The Dude's new rug is being carried to his car. He talks to a young bllonde woman polishing her nails. She asks him to blow on them. He wonders if the man sleeping on an inflatable in the pool will mind. She tells him Uli is a nihilist. "Must be exhausting." Brandt tells them the Dude should leave. The Dude finds out that she is Lebowski's wife, Bunny. She offers to fellate him for $1000. Brandt laughs nervously. "Brandt can't watch though, or he has to pay 100." Brandt ushers the Dude through the front gate. "I'm just going to go find a cash machine," the Dude calls to Bunny.

Donnie bowls another strike and tells another team that they are dead inthe water. Walter has brought his ex-wife's dog to the bowling alley in a small cage. He's looking after it while she is in Hawaii with her boyfriend. The Dude suggests she should just board it, but Walters says it's a show dog and it's hair would fall out. Smokey, a member of the opposing team, bowls an 8. Walter yells that his foot was over the line, but Smokey doesn't think so and tells the Dude to mark it. Walter says "Smokey this is not Vietnam, this is bowling, there are rules." When he still argues, Walter pulls out a gun and tells Smokey he's entering a world of pain. Smokey tells the Dude to try to calm him down, but Walter stands up and yells about nobody giving a shit about the rules. He points the gun in Smokey's face and forces him to mark the frame a zero. "It's a league game, Smokey."

Outside, the Dude and Walter argue about Walter's reaction. Smokey is a pacifist and has emotional problems. "He's fragile," says the Dude. "All water under the bridge," says Walter. He says pacifism is not something to hide behind, an example being "that camel fucker over in Iraq". The Dude tells him to take it easy, and Walter says smugly that he's calmer than the Dude is. In the background, police run into the bowling alley.

The next morning, the Dude enjoys his new rug and a White Russian. He answers phone messages, one from Smokey about talking to the league about the gun incident, one from Brandt telling the Dude to call them, and one from the bowling league about Walter. The doorbell rings, and the Dude opens and greets Marty. Marty tells him he will perform his "dance quintet" at a local theatre, and wants the Dude to be there. The Dude says he will. Marty asks for the Dude's rent payment as soon as possible. Brandt calls again, telling tthe Dude they need to see him as soon as possible.

In Lebowski's house, the Dude finds the man sitting in front of a fireplace crying. He asks the Dude what makes a man. "Is it being prepared to do the right thing, whatever the cost?" "Sure, that and a pair of testicles," replies the Dude. The Dude lights up a joint. Lebowski gives the Dude a photocopied ransom note, saying that Bunny has been kidnapped and they want one million dolars. "This is a bummer man... that's a bummer." Brandt pulls the Dude out of the room. He explains that they want the Dude to act as courier when they get a location to take the money. They think that he might be able to recognize the kidnappers if they are the same people who urinated on his rug.

At the bowling alley, a man wearing a hairnet and a purple bowling suit with "Jesus" written on the front of it bowls a perfect strike. Then he dances to a latino version of Hotel California. His partner, a balding man seen bowling in the opening credits, congratulates him. A few lanes down, The Dude and Walter watch him. The Dude comments on his bowling skill, but Walter explains that the man is also a pedophile and did 6 months in Chino for exposing himself to an 8-year old. When he moved to LA he had to go door to door telling everyone he was a "pederast". "Whats a pederast, Walter?" pipes up Donnie. "Shut the fuck up, Donnie." The Dude tells them that Brandt offered him 20 thousand to act as courier, and gave him a beeper that is bigger than most phones. Walter is worried if the exchange is during league play, but the Dude assures him he won't miss a game. He also figures the Bunny kidnapped herself to get money from her husband. "It's like Lenin said, you look for the person who will benefit..." Donnie starts talking about The Beatles. Walter calls Bunny a fucking bitch for what she must have done. "I did not watch my buddies die face-down in the muck so that this fucking whore could go out and owe money all over town!" The Dude doesn't see any connection to Vietnam. It's Walter's turn to bowl when Jesus Quintana comes over and tells them to watch out in the semi-finals. "You flash your piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, stick it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger till it goes 'click'. Nobody fucks with the Jesus!"

The Dude sleeps on his rug and listens to a casette tape of people bowling strikes, with a big smile on his face. A woman and two men come in, and the woman punches his in the head. Immediately the Dude has a hallucination that he is flying over the LA skyline, and the woman is riding his carpet away from him. Suddenly a bowling ball appears in his hand and pulls him straight down to the ground. Suddenly he is miniature and facing a huge bowling ball coming out of a ball return to crush him. He tenses up but winds up in the finger hole of the ball. From the perspective inside the ball, we roll down the lane and see the woman who bowled behind us. The pins scatter and the Dude begins to wake up. His Walkman beeps at him and he realizes his rug has been taken from underneath him. He lies back down on the hardwood floor with a groan.

Brandt calls him. The Dude goes over to the mansion where Brandt explains that the kidnappers want the exchange to happen tonight. He gives him a briefcase and a huge portable phone. The plan is to take the money up the highway and wait for the kidnappers to call. "Her life is in your hands."

The Dude picks up Walter from his store, Sobchak Security. He gets in the car and immediately changes the plan to include exchanging a bag of his own dirty underwear, "the whites", for the briefcase, and keeping the million bucks. The Dude is adamant that they stick to the original plan. The phone rings, the kidnappers on the other end. "Where do you want us to go?" The kidnappers pick up the word "us". After a pause, Walter yells at the Dude "Are you fucking this up?" The kidnappers hang up. The Dude panics and assumes they will now kill the girl and they've failed. Walter reminds him of their theory that Bunny staged her own kidnapping. The phone rings again. The kidnappers agree to proceed "only if there is no funny schtuff". "They're amateurs", Walter mutters. The kidnappers give them directions to a street. The Dude asks Walter how they will get Bunny back without an exchange. Walter figures he can "grab one of em and beat it out of 'em". Sarcastically, The Dude calls Walter's plan "ingenious, a Swiss fucking watch". Walter is proud of the simplicity of his plan. "If there's one thing I learned in 'Nam..." The phone rings again. They tell them to throw the money off a bridge up ahead from the moving car. "That fucks up our plan!" complains Walter. They approach the bridge. The Dude tries to throw the briefcase, but at the last second Walter throws the "ringer", then tells The Dude to keep the car steady. "I'll double back and beat it out of them! The Uzi!" Walter grabs a machine gun he brought and jumps out of the car. He rolls along the pavement. The gun falls out of his grasp and spins across the road, firing wildly. The Dude's taillight and tire are shot and he crashes into a telephone pole. He gets out with the briefcase in his hand. Walter and The Dude watch three men on motorcycles drive away with the bag of underwear, as the Dude yells that they still have the money. "Fuck it Dude," says Walter. "Let's go bowling."

At the bowling alley, the portable phone is ringing constantly. The Dude is miserable and convinced that Bunny will be killed. "What are we gonna tell Lebowski?" Walter is still convinced Bunny kidnapped herself and that there's no problem. Donnie tells them they posted the next round for the tournament. Their next game is on Saturday. Walter gets angry because he "doesn't roll on Shabbos", the Jewish day of rest. About Bunny, Walter figures she'll eventually return home on her own. As they are leaving, The Dude maintains that they will "kill that poor woman." Walter repeats this mockingly. "Who's got a million dollars sitting in their car? And what have they got? My dirty undies, my fucking whites..." Walter trails off as they stare at the empty parking space where The Dude's car was. "Who's got your undies Walter?" pipes up Donnie. Walter thinks it may have been towed as it was parked in a handicapped zone. "You fucking know it's been stolen!" says The Dude. The briefcase that was in the car is now gone as well. He walks home with the ringing phone in his arms.

(incomplete)